Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner's Playboy just celebrated its 40th anniversary. So why has it been so successful?

"Other magazines were showing naked women even back in the &ls;50s, but they weren't women who looked so cheerful and healthy and, well, wholesome," says Boston Globe writer Mark Feeney. "Nor were they being displayed in a context that suggested, hey, everyone's doing it&md;or at least everyone who drives a &ls;vette and plays Frank on a with-it hi-fi system and is, like, cool, daddy-o&md;so come on in, the water in the kidney-shaped pool is just fine."